Letters To The Editor

PUBLIC SAFETY

What price safety - in terms of lives?

The tragic loss of life recently at the Post Falls Factory Outlet mall and the subsequent article headlined “Post Falls mayor makes safety pledge” cause me to wonder if a blunt term we learned in military safety classes might apply to this and many other losses.

It was called “blood priority.” That is, life lost before appropriate prevention measures are taken, which could have been taken before the loss occurred.

Of course, there are cost constraints in any mishap prevention effort, but can business and government afford these deeply wounding events? Stephen Harrington Spokane

Year ‘round open season on pedestrians

Interesting. A pedestrian was killed in Post Falls while in an intersection at a shopping mall, but it must be her fault because she was wearing dark clothing and the driver wasn’t drunk or speeding.

Pretty simple, well?

A few hours before I heard this news I was walking in Spokane, just a mile or so, on an average day. Only two people tried to cut off my right of way and only one driver ran the red light at Third and Division. I only had to walk behind one car, and only had to run a few hundred yards to save my life.

It’s always very easy to explain a pedestrian death. There are very few of us and there seemingly are more cars than people in Spokane County alone. Drivers don’t expect you, anticipate you or care about pedestrian’s right to life.

Why didn’t that driver stop at that intersection if he knew he couldn’t see?

An assertive pedestrian is especially hated. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 17-year-old in a hot car or a mommy driving a car full of kids to Sunday school. Drivers in this area treat pedestrians with contempt.

A witness at the scene said, “A pedestrian shouldn’t assume the driver can see them.” Obviously, that was another motorist talking.

Pedestrians have the right of way at all times. Look for them at all times. You’ve got airbags, we don’t. Michaela Morgan Spokane

Pedestrians routinely court disaster

A Dec. 30 Spokesman-Review article referring to the death of a young woman hit by a truck in a Post Falls shopping mall states, “… there’s a problem.”

At the bottom of Ann Landers’ column, a 14-year-old girl gives this Northwest region the solution to our problem. Although her poem refers to drivers, pedestrians, too, should take note:

“This is the grave of Mike O’Day; Who died maintaining his right of way; His right was clear, His will was strong; But he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong.”

The law here, apparently, favors pedestrians over drivers. During my working years I spent much time in many cities of the world and I have never seen anywhere the disdain displayed for one’s pedestrian safety as I have experienced here. Some pedestrians will not even look before stepping off a curb into a crosswalk. They expect cars backing out of a mall parking space to give way to their right of way, even if they are aware the driver has not seen them. They dare the driver to hit them!

It is apparent the law must be changed to make pedestrians understand their first right, God-given, is of self-protection - to say nothing of courtesy. C.H. Swinburne, Jr. Spokane

GRASS FIELD BURNING

Growers’ no-loss record must end

A Dec. 15 headline declared, “Board votes to phase out field burning.” On the same day, the Intermountain Grass Growers Association issued a press release threatening lawsuits if such a regulation is attempted.

On Sept. 19, 1989, Spokesman-Review headlines declared “Air pollution board aims to end grass burning in Spokane County.” Shortly thereafter, a regulation was proposed that would have put a reasonable cap on the number of acres that could be burned in Spokane County, with that number to be slowly phased down over time, to give growers time to adopt alternatives.

Public hearings were held, publicity was intense. What happened then?

After the dust from the public outcry settled, the grass growers quietly presented their demands to the air authority and, by some process that nobody seems able to explain, the proposed regulations were never adopted. No reasonable cap was established, no phase-down was instituted. The only part of the original proposed regulation to be adopted was establishment of the four-week burn season.

In response to this regulation, the grass growers went to Olympia and brought back a law last April which now makes it illegal for our local air authority to establish a burn season.

For the last 26 years, grass growers have successfully resisted any restrictions on their “right to burn” by using their political connections and their attorneys. It’s time to say “no more” and put an end to a practice that threatens our health and robs us of our summers. Patricia Hoffman, president Save our Summers (from grass smoke), Spokane

SPOKANE COUNTY

End seniors’ golf discount

If you are a senior citizen, you can buy a season golf ticket for $440. If you’re an ordinary citizen you must pay $760, or 42 percent more. Playing single rounds, the cost is $13.50 compared to $9.50 for the senior citizen. That is 30 percent less.

The senior citizen also receives a 41 percent discount on taxes, if retired on $28,000 or less. The average working person’s income in Spokane County is $21,000 . That is $7,000 less than the state allows the senior citizens to qualify for tax exemptions.

The road assessments and utility assessments can be deferred by the senior citizen to their beneficiary without costing the senior citizen a penny. Yet the average working person with a $21,000 income or less in the city or county must pay 100 percent of their assessments or lose their property.

The senior citizen also receives a 10 percent discount at eating establishments, on theater tickets and discounts from various other businesses.

We need only to eliminate the seniors’ golf discounts. There is no need for an overall increase affecting those who are living on $21,000 or less and trying to make ends meet.

How can any fairminded person justify these discounts for playing golf when the county is in need of additional income to serve us all? John McBride Spokane

Spokane needs lobbyist in Olympia

The Dec. 29 paper carried an article indicating that County Commissioner John Roskelley voted against retaining an advocate for the Spokane area at the upcoming legislative session in Olympia.

This writer had hoped we’d learned our lesson, but I guess not. We must have a knowledgeable and committed advocate (read lobbyist) in Olympia to represent us and our legitimate claims and problems.

With the overwhelming problems in the I-5 Corridor, it’s very simple for Eastern Washington to be ignored and/or forgotten. Commissioners Phil Harris and Steve Hasson know this, and it’s high time Roskelley got on board. Maury Hickey Spokane

VIOLENCE

Don’t exploit or distort tragedy

Thomas Thompson,, you must be kidding or being very satirical (“Maybe killing will deter punks,” Letters, Dec. 31).

No one deserves to die, especially a young woman of 19 who didn’t drink and who was a taxpayer since the age of 16. The young men aren’t hoodlums or thieves. In fact, they’re hard-working, well-educated adults.

The argument wasn’t over loud music, but over a car parked on a curb. No one but Adrian “Al” Price had a weapon. The other two victims were shot in the back as they were leaving.

Thompson, do you really think the only way to stop violence in our community is with a shotgun and violence? We aren’t living in the era of the wild west; we’re living in the 1990s.

The true victim isn’t Price, it’s Meagan Winebrenner and all of us who knew and loved her.

We need to stop the violence by erasing the hate and racism each one of us carries inside. We need to look at getting more police on the streets and let them handle situations, rather than taking the law into our own hands with a gun.

Thompson, Meagan Winebrenner had a right to live, to love, and she was a good member of our community. She didn’t deserve to be shot down in the middle of a cold night, the day after Christmas, over a parked car. Richard B. Laggee Spokane

Get better basis for judgments

It saddens us to read the lies and obvious assumptions in Thomas Thompson’s words.

Thompson, were you there or did you make your assumptions based on whatever the media or your friends said? Have you ever played the game Gossip? If you have you would realize that by the time an original story gets back around to the first person it has been changed so much that it isn’t even what really happened. It appears that you have based your opinions on a whole lot of gossip.

Let’s remember Meagan Winebrenner, who was a good kid and a beautiful person. She loved life. She wasn’t a punk! She certainly didn’t deserve to be killed. She, too, was a taxpayer. She also didn’t drink. She was in every sense of the word a peacemaker. She was 19 and she didn’t deserve to die.

The other people there that night are young, educated and nonviolent. They are not drunks or thieves. Most of all, they are not killers. The kids had no weapons. They are employed, taxpaying citizens of society. They are decent people.

Meagan Winebrenner died because the one who killed her brought a gun into an argument and used it. For goodness sakes, folks, if there is a lesson to be learned, here it is: Don’t bring a gun into an argument. If you do, someone will be maimed or killed. Melissa Hendrix and Shon Bowen Spokane

Youth violence: Maybe it’s demons

We have today many godless, foundationless children running wild and out from under parental control, some of whom are capable of committing the cruelest, most senseless acts imaginable. It’s quite apparent that many of today’s children have been, and continue to be, influenced not by their parents but by the sensational, immoral, brutal, senseless acts portrayed in movies and on television, and by their peers.

How coldhearted and thoughtless some of them are. Like the 15-year-old who smothered his sister and her friend by placing plastic bags over their heads. And the 10-year-old who shot his 5-year-old sister dead for not doing what he told her to do.

These pitifully senseless, brutal acts children commit today have us all perplexed and wondering how this can be in this day and age. Is it possible that some are possessed by demons who are actually the ones committing these acts through them? Do you, perhaps, have a better possible explanation as to why today’s children are committing such heinous acts? Rudy Mahler Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Line-item veto essential to reform

The Republicans’ “Contract With America,” states in its first paragraph the need for a balanced budget, tax limitation and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out-of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and business.

The House passed an implementing bill and the Senate passed a similar bill. A joint conference report was authorized and assigned to three House committees on Nov. 7. If ever approved by these committees it goes to the House Rules Committee, to await placement by the speaker on the House calendar for debate and consideration.

For the president to agree to a balanced budget in a specified period of time it seems essential that the line-item veto authority be included in the budget bill. This would prevent members of Congress from padding unrequested or unneeded local projects that increase the budget deficit. The media daily report examples of this need to force fiscal responsibility on an out-of-control Congress. A. LaMont Smith, DPA Spokane

Give attorneys much less to do

I was engaged in conversation with an attorney. He wondered why we don’t have more free public skating around Spokane when we have lots of available area.

I can remember in the ‘40s and early ‘50s when the fire department would flood playgrounds for outdoor public skating. People with natural ponds welcomed all. This has disappeared because of his profession.

Years ago we accepted injury while enjoying this outdoor activity. No one blamed anyone, until the law profession and a few others decided someone should pay. This may seem like an oversimplification of the overzealous law profession, but it’s getting worse.

There are nearly 800,000 attorneys in the U.S., and we spend 2.2 percent of our Gross Domestic Product on court fees. We lead the world in these statistics, so it’s gone farther than the ice skating pond in someone’s backyard. And it continues to snowball.

The only way to turn this trend around is to accept responsibility for our own actions, and put more emphasis on ethics in law school. The world would be a better place, financially and emotionally, if people and attorneys would follow the Golden Rule. This doesn’t mean I’ll sue you before you sue me.

If this doesn’t work the public should insist on strong legislation to curb frivolous lawsuits and limit outlandish court settlements.

Another solution is to stop electing attorneys to our legislative office. Electing lawyer-lawmakers enables a flagrant conflict of interest. James A. Nelson Spokane

Put-down of liberals unseemly

Instead of a message of hope and compassion for these festive times, D.F. Oliveria shows his ignorance and hate for liberals and the Democratic Party. He is a radical rightist and seemingly a strong believer in the “Contract with America” - anti-government, anti-environment and a hater of the Endangered Species Act.

At a time when we pay homage to Christ, Oliveria brings politics and hatred into these festive times.

Oliveria, come out from the shadow of your idol, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and see the truth. The American people are fed up with those lunatics in Congress.

This nation has always done better under a Democratic government. The Democrat represents the people of this great nation. Republicans have traditionally represented big business and the wealthy.

Let’s come to our senses and vote Democrat in 1996. A.K. Stirling Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Help me see justice in sentences

Please explain to me how a man who knowingly murders his wife can receive a sentence of four years in jail when a man whose sentence of eight years is based on a child’s uncorroborated testimony? Jean Reiter Spokane

Marijuana study premise is absurd

I find it ironic that so many people claim their outlandish opinions are backed up by “scientific study,” as if these high sounding words should automatically convey proof and convince the ignorant public of their infallibility.

Tom Hawkins (“Marijuana study foolishly ignored,” Letters, Jan. 2) uses a 20-year-old article from the New York Times about a study that shows widespread marijuana use has no significant impact on the Jamaican economy to make his case for legalization of the drug.

Warning bells should be going off in people’s minds, at least if those minds are cannabis-free. Twenty years ago it would be reasonable to assume that a large percentage of the New York Times staff were themselves seeing things through smoke-filled eyes.

The absurdity of holding up the Jamaican economy - with one of the lowest per capita incomes and highest unemployment rates in the world - as proof that pot smoking doesn’t effect a population’s production or motivation is utterly ridiculous. Steve Busch Spokane